Whether novice or experienced, writers must come to terms with the daunting task of filling up a blank page, or screen, in an effort to produce writing. Student writers are no different. They enter teachers' classes having confronted similar difficulties with discovering what it is they want to say. In seeking to help students, they devote…

Every year the author and his colleagues take their grade 12 English students to see four plays at one of Canada's major theaters. Chatting about the series on the last day of class, his students asked him if he had seen "the blue glow from the back row." Laughing at his bewilderment, they told him that during the performances so many…

Includes approaches to pantomime, improvisation, expanding a character, role playing, reader's theater, live stage, and script writing. (DD)

Describes a program of half-hour, lunch period, dramatic productions staged by high school students. (DD)

Discusses the quality and value to students of recent Broadway plays. Noting that dramatic output is limited in size and content, recommends the use of an international English-language repertory for the education of young students. Cites British, Australian, Canadian, Caribbean, African and South African authors. (JG)

Proposes three theatrical games by which elements of literary experience may be made dramatic. (DD)

Demonstrates the usefulness of readers theater in the literature class. (DD)

Provides the responses of seven practicing English teachers to the questions, "How do you use dramatics in your classroom? How do you introduce your students to live theater?" (HB)

A teacher in the high school drama club recounts the experience of producing a controversial play about teenagers, "Sometimes I Wake Up in the Middle of the Night." Reports initial apprehensions and eventual satisfaction of actors, the drama coach, and audience members. (JG)

Discusses the value of teaching and producing contemporary plays as well as classics in high school. Argues for the superior interest level of challenging, low-budget, relevant dramas recently appearing on the young adult scene, such as those by Jerome McDonough and Hindi Brooks. Includes an annotated bibliography of young adult drama. (JG)

A report from the Educational Resources Information Center at the National Council of Teachers of English; ERIC abstracts of pertinent documents are included. (RD)

Presents a dialog among three English teachers concerning teaching performance poetry to ninth graders. (RS)

Suggests that slowing down the pace of reading instruction may help to make students lifetime readers. (DD)

Describes a junior high language arts curriculum project in which students played the parts of famous authors. Notes stages of preparation, including reading, researching biographies, practicing speaking skills, and understanding authors' viewpoints. (JG)